My boys love 1986 computing
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My boys love 1986 computing
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Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#2I completely agree with this. A lot of the games seem to appeal more too, because they've been written simply, with straightforward rules.
The BBC Master (which my children love) was also a terrific platform to learn to program on. It's just a shame that a lot of the disk drives and disks haven't survived very well.
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#3There is something about 1980's-era computers which make them so much more accessable to kids than today's systems.
It's probably to do with how much simpler they are - if I can put my finger on it, I'd say it's because they don't have lots of Things which can tempt you to distraction; for example - if they had a web browser of some kind back then, you'd be tempted away from learning to program in BASIC, or learning how to load that simple-but-fun game.
They generally were single task machines that allowed you to focus on one Thing.
I'm looking at my Linux desktop right now on this machine. I have a web browser I'm using to type this reply. It also has 8 other tabs open - more tabs will be added later as I continue on my search for knowledge. I have a Konsole terminal open with IRC sessions to multiple servers and channels open. I have PyCharm loaded. I have a VM running, and more to run later. All vying for my time and energy. A child using this machine would be overwhelmed.
Even a Raspberry Pi can distract the user of it in the same manner as my desktop.
Perhaps it's time to reintroduce kids today to the CoCo2's, the VIC-20's, the C64's, the Spectrums, the ZX81's and so on. Perhaps getting kids to use single-task-at-a-time systems to learn instead of the distraction-inducing tech. of today, would be a very good idea.
When my son was 2.5 years old, I put in front of him an ancient old Compaq laptop running Debian. It had Tuxpaint running on it, and I just put it in front of him and let him go on it. Within a short space of time he was using Tuxpaint like a "pro", and then he learned how to power the machine up, and type in his login name and password. Sure, you can do this with today's systems, but they do make it so easy to provide tons of distractions.
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#4I initially gave my two girls an old desktop computer with a linux on it. They started to use it before I showed them how and they started figuring stuff out without me and soon I was sitting riveted in the background watching them discover things and trying to learn about computer UIs and work out how they thought.
Here's an old blog post about it: http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19500788060/my-te... - I think its a fun read.
Fast forward to now; that blog post is hopelessly out of date!
I gave them old-but-decent laptops and, eventually, internet access.
As soon as they had internet access they stopped tinkering and exploring and started only using the laptop to watch repeat episodes of childrens TV.
And now they often want to use their mum's iPad - to play music and watch TV - but they are completely utterly uninterested in tinkering with any PCs.
Its sad but its true and I wish I knew what to do about it.
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#5I initially gave my two girls an old desktop computer with a linux on it. They started to use it before I showed them how and they started figuring stuff out without me and soon I was sitting riveted in the background watching them discover things and trying to learn about computer UIs and work out how they thought. Here's an old blog post about it: http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19500788060/my-te... - I…
See my post. You had the same experience as I had with my son. The old machines had less distractions - this is the problem with modern systems.
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#6When my son was about four years old, I gave him an old electric typewriter which I got from Freecycle. I also gave him a stack of paper and some ink ribbon.
Within days, he was "typing" away, loading new paper, working the lever to return the carriage to the start and replacing the ink ribbons. By the end of the month, it was in pieces as he tried to dismantle it to see out how it works. Luckily, I was supervising him so that he does not electrocute himself. The mind of a young child is an amazing thing to watch.
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#7My kids absolutely love our 8-bit rig!!
Fire up some Defence Force, Harrier Attack, Doggy, or Zorgon's Revenge, from the good old days! YAY, 8-bit party! Space 1999, 1337, Pulsoids, Skool Daze .. STORMLORD! W00t!
:)
What's really great, is that the 8-bit days are not over. I see this now, with my kids getting attracted very much to programming on the 8-bit machines. "10 PING:WAIT 10 20 GOTO 10", represent!!
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#8I initially gave my two girls an old desktop computer with a linux on it. They started to use it before I showed them how and they started figuring stuff out without me and soon I was sitting riveted in the background watching them discover things and trying to learn about computer UIs and work out how they thought. Here's an old blog post about it: http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19500788060/my-te... - I…
Unfortunately, this is true for adults too. I used to code for hours and now I have such a hard time to stay focused...
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#9I initially gave my two girls an old desktop computer with a linux on it. They started to use it before I showed them how and they started figuring stuff out without me and soon I was sitting riveted in the background watching them discover things and trying to learn about computer UIs and work out how they thought. Here's an old blog post about it: http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19500788060/my-te... - I…
Give them a working 8-bit system with hundreds of games and apps from the days before the Internet. There is still just as much working 8-bit and non-Internet software out there as there ever was: you just have to find the hardware.
Then, most important of all: don't leave them alone with it. Stay there and play with them. Maybe you'll enjoy a return to the 8-bit software development days too, just for the heck of it. Disclaimer: this worked for my two boys.
Re: My boys love 1986 computing
#10I initially gave my two girls an old desktop computer with a linux on it. They started to use it before I showed them how and they started figuring stuff out without me and soon I was sitting riveted in the background watching them discover things and trying to learn about computer UIs and work out how they thought. Here's an old blog post about it: http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19500788060/my-te... - I…
Unfortunately, this is true for adults too. I used to code for hours and now I have such a hard time to stay focused...
Just spent the past 3 weeks with my parents in their cabin 2 hours from civilization. Only internet connection is slow $60/4 GB 3G that's only stable in the early AM and late PM.
Haven't been this productive in AGES.